


Back to Less-Than-Perfect

by acopinesandaspens



Category: Barbie - All Media Types, Barbie Fairytopia (Movies)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Elina is wingless, all the architecture in those movies is made for flight, fight me about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23395150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acopinesandaspens/pseuds/acopinesandaspens
Summary: Elina feared that the berry that showed your true form would transform her to her wingless self. I wanted to see what would happen if that fear had come to fruition. This scene took place at the end of Barbie: Mermaidia when Elina had been magicked to be a mermaid and wanted to turn back into a fairy.
Relationships: Nalu/Nori (Barbie Fairytopia)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	Back to Less-Than-Perfect

The berry was meant to magic you into your true physical form. If only Elina was positive that it would give her back her wings. She loved flying, it made her finally feel normal after a life of being different. But it always felt too good to be true. 

Who was to say that the berry wouldn’t magic her back to winglessness? It was how she felt most times. But there wasn’t much other choice. She wanted to be home, with Peony and Dandelion and Bibble. Nori and Nalu were amazing friends, but Mermaidia wasn’t home.

“Whatever happens, you know that you’ll still be you. Smart and kind and everything that you were when we met,” Nori encouraged. “The berry won’t change that.” Elina managed a small smile at her. Nori had become a good friend in the short time they’d known each other.

“Yes, you’re going to be okay.” Elina turned to Nalu as he spoke. He had known Elina longer; they had met when Elina hadn’t had any wings at all. They’d been friends for a while now and he knew best of them how afraid Elina was. He’d seen her struggle with her feelings of being different. She hid it well, even from herself sometimes, but Nalu knew how she feared going back to the way she’d d been. He knew she’d be okay; she had a support system and had the spirit to get through anything sent her way. But Elina needed to hear she would be alright.

Elina looked at the two friends she had with her and readied herself. She couldn’t stay a mermaid forever, she had to try. “Okay,” she breathed out, “here goes nothing.” And then she bit into the berry. At first nothing happened, and Elina was terrified that the berry hadn’t worked. And then the magic hit her system and she started glowing. It felt so different than the Enchantress’ magic had. Her magic had felt soft and kind. This magic lit her up from the inside and brought its inevitable change with it. 

As the surge faded, Elina found that she couldn’t breathe anymore. The magic seaweed must have worn off sometime during the hours she’d had a tail and gills. Nori and Nalu sensed it and hauled her up to the air as fast as they could. When they broke the surface, Elina took a moment to get her breath back. Nori and Nalu held her up and checked her back. Both felt devastation for their friend when they saw nothing.

“Oh, Elina” was all Nori could bring herself to say. Nalu couldn’t summon words at all for a moment. He knew the fear Elina held. And here it was manifested, or unmanifested as it seemed.

“What?” Elina caught her breath and looked to her friends. They looked stricken. “What’s wrong?” Elina started to panic with her second question.

“I’m so sorry my friend,” Nalu barely got the words out before Elina started to cry. She grasped at her friends and tried in vain to feel the wings the Enchantress had given her. She cried as the two mermaids swam her to shore and cried as the sat with her in the shallow water. She was wingless again. She’d cheated nature and now it was being thrown back in her face. She tried to keep in mind the people that loved her. She tried to keep in mind that she could function just fine without the wings. She tried to keep perspective, but it still hurt. 

The three sat in silence for a while after Elina’s tears ran dry. After all their tears ran dry, though loathe as Nori would be to admit it. Seeing a friend in such despair is never easy. They sat with their arms around each other and tried to find some happiness. They had tricked Laverna, they had saved Mermaidia! Elina reminded herself of these things as she gathered herself together. 

“Bibble and I should start heading home, it takes a while to walk.”

Nori and Nalu shared a look. “Are you sure?” Nalu asked. He hated to see his friend have to travel after such an ordeal, but he could also see the sun beginning its descent downwards. 

“Yeah, I want to be home.” Elina let out a short sigh. “I want to sleep in my bed and see Dandelion again. And who knows, maybe the Enchantress will grant me another set of wings.” It sounded far fetched to hope for, but so had turning into a mermaid a while ago. Anything could be possible.

Nori grasped onto the idea. “Oh yea, you helped save Mermaidia! Nalu could talk to the Enchantress and tell her to give you wings again!” 

Nalu perked up as well. “Yes! My mother has many contacts in Fairytopia, I’m sure that she could talk to the enchantress no problem.”

“Really?” Elina couldn’t believe the friends she had, “you would do that for me?”

“Of course.” Nalu tugged Elina and Nori into a tight hug. “I’d to anything for either of you.”

“Well in that case…” Nori joked, and the three shared a laugh. They sure deserved it after all the wildness they'd endured.

Elina made her way home shortly after. Not before she let Nori and Nalu know that they loved each other. She’d heard Nalu talk about her often enough to know they shared feelings. She couldn’t wait for the wedding. Walking home ended up not being too bad. Elina hadn’t stopped walking places after she’d gotten her wings; it had been a lifelong situation for her, so she hadn’t always remembered she could fly everywhere. It was tough to meet Dandelion and Azura back home. Both of their reactions had made her freshly upset about the loss. It was hard, giving up flight after she’d only just got it.

But it seemed she had more than one friend willing to fight for her wings. Both Azura and Nalu’s mother had access to the Enchantress, it seemed as if two respectable leaders were enough to convince her of Elina’s worthiness. She worked a spell that would grant wings and started toward the fairy’s home. As she traveled, she thought of this Elina she kept hearing about. She had helped save both Fairytopia and Mermaidia on separate occasions. There was an opportunity she had in mind for a fairy like that…

**Author's Note:**

> I had meant to give this a melancholy ending... but I couldn't. Like logically, even if she hadn't had contact with the Enchantress beforehand, she is friends with both a mermaid prince and a fairy liaison for the Enchantress. She would have gotten wings again anyway. And it's a barbie movie. I couldn't give it a sad ending.


End file.
